Label-printing machine



Nov. 11, 1924. 1.515342 P. DIETZ LABEL PRINTING MACHINE Filed Sept'. 29. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 667/ l 64 1 T /2 J k.

Nov. 11, 2

1.515342 P. DIETZ V LABEL PRINTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 29. 1923 4 is-sneet 2 Nov. 11, 1,924. I 1.515342 P. DIET-Z LABEL PRINTING MACHINE File d Sept. 29 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Nov. 11, 1924.

P. DIETZ LABEL PRINTING MACHINE Filed Sebt.

lllellliln'lnl Illllllr'llull'llll-ll I Patented Nov. 11, 1924.

PAUL DIETZ, O33 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

LABEL-PRINTING MACHINE.

Application filed September 29, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL Drnrz, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a Labelrinting Machine, of which the following 2 is a specification.

One object of this invention is to provide a relatively simple, durable and substantial hand operated machine primarily designed for printing labels, and the invention especially contemplates a device by which perfect work may be produced by relatively unskilled labor.

Another object of my invention is to provide a printing machine which may be operated by hand at high speed, which shall be clean, convenient and not likely to get out of order or require skilled attention.

A further object of the invention is to provide a printing machine in which the power for moving the label-carrying bed toward the type housing to accomplish the printing shall be provided by a hand controlled spring, and in which the arrangement of parts'is such that the printed labels shall be automatically discharged upon a receiving tray or platform.

I also desire to provide a printing machine with novel means for controlling and actuating its bed, including conveniently placed elements for releasing said bed to perform the printing and for resetting the bed after the printing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of the character described with simple and readily accessible means for holding the type;the invention including convenient means for adjusting or changing the type and for causing an ink ribbon to be fed over the same at each operation of the machine.

I also desire to provide a machine of the character noted with a table for the labels to be printed which table may be conveniently adjusted to serve as lock for the movable bed.

These objects and other advantageous ends, I attain as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. in which,

Fig. 1 is an elevation of one side of a printing machine constructed in accordance with my invention;

Serial No. 665,580.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the machine shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical sections taken respectively on the lines 33 and 1 4, Fig.

Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical sections respectively on the lines 5--5 and 66, Fig. 4; and, v

Fig. 7 illustrates a modified form of con trol levers.

In the above drawings, 1 represents a base structure preferably in the form of a hollow casting of rectangular outline provided t hemispherical or other suitable form of feet 2-2 of rubber or other suitable material within the hollow of the base structure 1. I preferably mount a slidable drawer 3 for the reception of a block 4 of wood having vertical cavities 5 thereindesigned to hold the various types used in the machine. While the body of the drawer 3 is preferably of sheet material, I preferably provide it with a cast front plate 6 fastened by suitv able means and having a central knob or handle 7 whereby the drawer may be manipulated. v

The base casting 1 has projecting vertically upward therefrom three posts or standards, of which two, indicated at 8, are at opposite sides of the front of the machine while the third post 9 is at the middle of the back. These posts at their upper ends carry a flat topped platform 10 which is preferably though not necessarily held to the posts by screws ofwhich one is indicated at 11 in Fig. 3. Extending upwardly from the rear part of the platform is a relatively heavy rigid standard or frame 12 of substantially rectangular outline having a flat perpendicular front face against which is mounted a type housing 13. The lower portion of the frame 12 is laterallyextended upon the top of the platform 10 'to which it is rigidly held by screws 14.

The type housing preferably has the form of a horizontally elongated rectangular box open on its front vertical face and made up of a bottom member 15, two side members 16-16 and a top member 17. The latter has threaded int-o it two clamping screws 1818 operative upon a clamping bar 19 whereby the type, with any suitable number of spacing strips, may be firmly clamped liar) therein. With the above arrangement of type housing, several lines of type may he rigidly supported with their faces all in a substantially vertical plane and with tl'ieir rear ends lying against the flat front face Ofl the trains or plate 12 which. serves as the bottom of said type housing. As shown in Fig. 3, the platform is termed with a downwardly flanged, laterally elongated central opening 20, adjacent the opp to ends of which are! bearings 21 projecting upwardly from tne top of said plat-'torin and having ournaled in them spindles and respectively constitu ing the pivots or trunnions for a flat taced bed 24'. 'lhis latter is designed to be movable front a position in which its flat face is substantially vertical and immediately adjacent the plane of the face of the tvpe housing; l8 to a position in which, as shown in 3 its flat to the former positic-in i mount on an e7 tension or: one of the he rings E21" a c lindrical casing 25 containing coiled spring 26 preferably though not necessarily of the flat spiral type connnonly used in clocks. The spring casing; adjustably clamped to an extension of the hearing 21 by three screws 27 and ha one end ct t1 connected to it hv a. screw or pin in, e opposite end of said spring .is connected to a screw 29 mounted in a circular plate 3!: forming part of or rigidh connected to a sleeve 31 keyed on the spindle by a pin The circular plate forms the outer portion of and serves as a closure tor the spring casing and its screw which serves a crank pin has connectcc to it one end of a link act'u ed by a resetlever 34. Said lever has a head T35 its forward end and tit-zed to a spindle 36 journaled in the rear of the platit'orin 10 So that it projects From the rcar to the tront of said platform at one end thereo't. The link has an elongated slot for the re ception ot' a screw mounted in the lever 34: and the latter is preferably maintained in and tends to return to a fillbSijfllll'li llfl horizontal position under the act on ot a coil. spring mounted under the nlatlorn'i 10 and having one end conn cted to an arm 43-0 projecting from the sp e 36,

' The spring; 26 is so designed and adjii that through the on nl: pl; 22"it tends to move the bed .5 win me position in full lines in Fig; L to the position shown in dotted lines. The length of the slot in the lirlr 33 snch as to i reelv permit of this movement of said bed with its attached parts. After such movement has occurred, however, downward pressure upon the head 35 the lever will cause the screw 38 to engage the lower end of said slot 37 and thereafter the continued spi i w 2" rated downward movement of said lever through the link 33, plate 30, and sleeve 31 will swing the bed from its vertical position to its horizontal position. at the 581116 time winding up the spring For releasably holding the bed in its lower or horizontal position shown in Fig. provide a hook ll fixed to a short shatt jonrnaled in the platform 10 and pro- ;"v ting; beyond the end of the same in]- ndiately over the resetting lever 'lhis ecting end oi said sha'tt. has 'l'lfibti to torward and upwardly projecting aria ding innnediately adjacent the head "in resetting lever and a spring ll 1 on the shaft has one end lined to e sanie h a screw 45 so that the arm 4 s normally maintained in an upright posi- At the same time, the hook 411 is at tinies pressed inwardly so that it tends to remain in engagement with a horizontallv projecting pin 4-6 mounted in the under side (ii the bed PA, the arrangement h 4' such that a depression of the arm will free said hooh from said pin thus leaving);

the bed tree to move under the action (it the tiring: 26. lhe nose of the hook ell is pretera ilv inclined so that upon downward movement of the bed, the pin d6 will. force said hoolr to one side and then be one by the same in such manner that the ha will be held in its lower position. The arm 43 pretermbl ii'icludes a hub or s e ve por tion on the shatt which is en aged the resetting; lever 34 so as to limit the upware Miovement thereof.

The top nieail'ver 17 ot the 'FT'tUl'lP, is provided with a cav t tor a spring plunger which normally projects troin the rront o t the tyne housing; in position to h and serve to cushion the blow when this released by the heel: ll. For illilfpurpose said plunger norn'iallv pressed out a spring lf) and s retained in ts cavity by a pair of nuts thr aded on its rear end. For oom tiire with the iliinger 4 8. l prctm'abh mount in the bed a screw 5 (Fin: 1) and if desired on opposite ends (it the top housing n'icinbcr ll provide a pair oi adjustable stops in the Form o't s rews which ctl ectually limit the an iroach ot the bed to the type l'ltffllSll'lfl' such, howeverth t he action ot the sprinc the i ies the tvpe housing. the scr w l? a as the end o't t l spring plnn 4-0 fl'iit? this Into its )avitv until said lit) sally slidable in bearings in the frame 12 and table 10 and having fixed to its upper end a head or handle 62 whereby it may be manipulated. The cross-head 59 has oppositely projecting arms 6363 whose ends extend around the opposite ends of the type housing and at their extremities have mounted upon them guide rollers 64 and 65. To the rear of these rollers and preferably also to the rear of the type housing, said arms 63 respectively carry vertical posts 66 and 67 on which are rotatably mounted ribbon spools 66 and 67; there being an inking ribbon 68 which passes from the spool 66 on the post 66 around the guide rollers 64:, hence across the face of the type housing, around the guide roll 65 to the spool 67 on the post 67. l/Vhen desired, the type in the housing may be exposed for purposes for inspection or alteration by raising the cross-head 59 with its arms, rollers and inking ribbon for which purpose the head 69 is drawn upwardly. For holding the ribbon carriage with its attached parts in this elevated position the rod 61 is provided with a notch 68 which, when said parts have reached their highest position, will be entered by one arm of a lever 69 pivoted to the frame 12 on a screw 70 and normally pressed toward said rod by a spring 71. For positioning the ribbon carriage at the lower end of its possible range of movement, I fix to the rod '61, preferably immediately under its head 62, a projecting arm 72 carrying an adjustable screw 'Tflarranged to strike the top member 17 when the ribbon carriage has been lowered sufficiently to properly position the ribbon 68 in front of the type a". By adjusting this screw, fresh parts of the ribbon may be brought into po sition to engage the type.

F or feeding the ink ribbon longitudinally from one of the spools 66 to the other spool 67, the latter is fixed in any desired manner to a ratchet wheel 75 which coacts with a pawl 76 mounted adjacent one end of a lever 77 fulcrumed at 7 8 to one of the arms'63 of the ribbon carriage. Said pawl is at all times pressed toward the ratchet by a suitable spring and the lever 77 is actuated from the oscillatory bed through a swinging arm 79 and a lever 80 pivoted to the end of the frame 12 by :1 screw 81. The oscillatory bed adjacent its right hand end has 3 lug 82 in which is mounts-u an adjustable screw 83 and the latter is so positioned that when said bed is moved into its lower or horizonal position, the end of said. screw engages a part of the lever 80, swinging it rearwardly sufficiently to cause a projection 8% thereon to strike the swinging arm 79 so that this moves the lever 77 with the pawl 7 6 toward the ratchet wheel 75, causing the latter to be turned to the extent of one tooth of said Wheel. A spring pawl 85 is also provided each time the oscillatory bed 24 is swung 6 down, it causes a predetermined rotation of i the spool 67 and a definite feeding of the ink ribbon from the spool 66 across the face of the type. It will be noted from Fig. 3

that the swinging arm 7 9 presents a straight vertical edge to the projection 84 of the lever 80, so that all of the ribbon operating parts remain in their operative positions regardless ofthe position of the ribbon carriagc.

As shown in Fig. 3, I mount a guide plate or delivery chute under the opening 20 of the platform 10, and curve this downwardly and forwardly from said opening so that labels falling from between the type housing and the bed are delivered at the front of the base structure. The flat upper face of the bed 24 is preferably covered by a sheet or plate of soft rubber 91 having over it a thin sheet of paper or card board 92 held in place by a gauge plate 93 and a pair of pins 94 placed in opposite corners of the inner edge of the bed. The gauge plate as illustrated has a downwardly extending portion engaged by an adjusting screw threaded into the bed from the outer edge thereof, in order to permit of the accurate placing of a label on said bed.

At one end of the platform 10, I preferably provide a table 96 in the form of a fiat plate mounted to swing with a vertical post 97 rotatably mounted in said platform, and the arrangement is such that when the bed 24 is in its lower or l'iorizontal position, said table may be turned into a position immediately over and substantially parallel with said bed, thus preventuig this from swinging to its upper or vertical position.

In order to utilize the above machine, the

ribbon carriage is moved to its upper position by drawing the rod 61 upwardly, thus exposing the cavity of the type box and making it possible to'mount therein any desired type. After this latter with suitable spacing strips, etc., has been clamped in the type box by setting up the screws 18, the

ribbon carriage is lowered after the lever 69 g 93:its left hand end being in. engagement with a right angle projection 99 of the auxiliary gauge strip 98. If the arm 4c3'be now. depressed, the hook ll is disengaged from the pin 46, and under the action of the spring 26, the bed 24 is swung upwardly, causing til ,the label to be pressed against the ink ribbon and the latter in turn to be forced against the typ'e,the spring plunger it? being moved inwardly against its spring 4t suliici'ently to permit of this action. Said spring, however, shortly thereafter expands, moving the bed outwardly a short distance away from the type and thereby releasing the printed label Which falls through the opening 20 into the chute 90, whereby it is delivered at the front of the machine. A downward pressure on the head of the resetting lever 34 new swings the bed downwardly from its upper to its lower position, where its pin 46 is engaged and held by the actuated hook ll. This downward movement of the bed through the screw 83 turns the ribbon spool 67 to a limited ex tent and winds up a short length oi the ink ribbon, thus bringing a fresh portion of the latter over' the face of the type. If desired, I may mount a counting device 100 on the rear part of the platform 10 and connect the actuating lever thereoil with a suitable part of the'oscillatory bed through a link 101 (Fig. 1), so that each oscillation of said bed will'operate said instrument. From the above description, it will be appreciated that my device is not only easy and conven ient to manipulate, but its construction is such as to require a minimum of skill and attention for suchoperation. Moreover, its parts are so arranged that if desired, it may be run at a high speed and caused to print large numbers of labels all with the highest degree of accuracy; the arrangement of: the releas ng and resetting levers being such as to permit of their quick and convenient operation by one hand, while the operators other hand is engaged in placing labels on the bed and removing printed labels from the bottom of the chute.

It is to be noted that the spring 26 is preterably so set that it is practically tensionless when the bed is in its upper or vertical position, although obviously the tension may be very conveniently adjusted by loosening any one of the three screws 27 and shifting the position of the spring casing 25 in one I direction or the other, thereafter tightening said screw 27 which had been loosened.

While I have shown the type housing so positioned that the printing faces of the type are in a vertical plane, and have also shovvn'the bed as movable to such a position that its faceis horizontal whe a label is to be applied thereto, it will be understood that without departing from my invention these elements may occupy other angular posi tions, so that the type housing is positioned to' permit of the ready insertion and adjustment of the type, and the bed when in its lower position has its upper face conveniently available for the reception of the labels to be printed.

In order to bring difierent transverse portions of the inking ribbon into position to engage the type so that practically all por tions of said ribbon will be utilized, 1 raise or lower the said ribbon through its supporting carriage by adjusting the screw 73, this adjustn'ient bein preferably made atter the entire length or the ribbon has been passed across the type. When said ribbon has thus been all wound on the spool, the two ribbon spools are reversed upon their supporting spindles, and the screw 73 is turned to move the ribbon relatively to the type.

/Vhile I have described my macl'iine as particularly designed for hand operation, it is obvious that the two levers 3% and as in a y be actuated automatically by power from a suitable mechanical source without departing from my invention. h loreover, as shown in. Fig. 7, I may cause the machine to operate through a complete cycle by the use of but a single reversing lever. For this purpose, in place of the lever 48 projecting forwardly and upwardly, I provide an arm lo .tixed to the spindle 4-2 and projecting rearwardly and down. so that it is engaged by the lever 34 and moved up sufliciently to cause the hook 4-1 to disengage the pin 4-6 after said lever has been released from its lower position.

With this arrangement of parts, the depression of the lever moves the bed 24 to its horizontal position and allows the placing thereon of the label to be printed,-the bed as before being retained in its lower position by the hook 41. Upon release oi the lever 34:, the spring 39 forcibly returns it to its upper position, bringing it into en gagement with the arm 4-3 and causing this to release the hook 41 from the pin The bed is thus free to move under the action of the spring 26 to present the label to the type and cause it to be printed and thereafter discharged. Thereafter the depression of the lever 34: will. again return the bed to its lower position ready to receive another label.

I claim:

1. The combination in a printing machine of type; a pivotally mounted bed; a spring device for propelling the bed toward the type; and a member normally holding the bed away from the type with the spring device under tension.

2. The combination in. a printing ma chine of type; a pivotally mounted bed; a spring device for propelling the bed toward. the type; a member normally holding the bed away from the type with the spring device under tension; and a member for resetting the bed atter it has moved toward the type.

3. The combination in a printing machine of type; a swinging bed; a spring for swinging the bed toward the type; ajhand operated member for moving the bed away from the type and at the same time placing the spring under tension; with means for releasably holding the bed away from the type.

4. The combination in a printing machine of a supporting frame; means on the frame for holding type with their faces in a substantially vertical plane; a bed hinged to the frame and having a flat face for presenting a label to the type; a spring for moving said bed from a substantially horizontal position into position to present a label to the type; and a member for releasably holding the bed in a substantially horizontal position against the action of the spring.

The combination in a printing machine of a supporting frame; means on the frame for holding type with their faces in a substantially vertical plane; a bed hinged to the frame and having a flat face for presenting a label to the type; a spring for moving said bed from a substantially horizontal position into position to present a label to the type; and a member for releasably holding the bed in a substantially horizontal position against the action of the spring; with a second member for returning said bed to its horizontal position. 6. The combination in a printing machine of a supporting frame; means on the frame for holding the type; a bed hinged to the frame and having a label receiving face; a spring for moving the bed from a substantially horizontal position into a position to present a label to the type; a hook for holding the bed in its substantially horizontal position against the action of the spring; and means for actuating the hook to release the bed.

7. The combination in a printing machine of a supporting frame; means on the frame for holding type; a bed hinged to the frame and having a label receiving face; a spring for moving the bed from a substantially horizontal position into a position to present a label to the type; a hook for holding the bed in its substantially horizontal posi tion against the action of the spring; with a hand operated member for moving the hook to release the bed.

8. The combination in a printing machine of a supporting frame; means on the frame for holding type; a bed hinged to the frame and having a label receiving face; a spring for moving the bed from a substantially horizontal position into a position to pre sent a label to the type; a hook for holding the bed in its substantially horizontal position against the action of the spring; means for actuating the hook to release the bed; with a second member for resetting the bed in its horizontal position in engagement with the hook.

9. The combination in a printing machine of type; a pivotally mounted bed; an inking ribbon extending across the face of the type; a spring for propelling the bed toward said ribbon and the type; and a mem ber normally holding the bed away from the type with the spring under tension.

10. The combination in a printing machine of type; a pivotally mounted bed; an inking ribbon extending across the face of the type; a spring for propelling the bed toward said ribbon and the type; a member normally holding the bed away from the type with the spring under tension; and means actuated by the movement of the bed for periodically feeding the ribbon relatively to the type.

11. The combination in a printing machine of type; a swinging bed; a spring for propelling the bed toward the type; a member for releasably holding the bed awayfrom the type with the spring under tension; means for swinging the bed away from the type; an inking ribbon extending across the face of the type; and mechanism actuated by the bed when it is moving away from the type for feeding the inking ribbon relatively to said type.

12. The combination in a printing ma chine of type; a swinging bed movable toward and from said type; a spring for forcibly moving the bed toward the type a member for normally holding the bed away from the type; and two adjacent members for actuating the holding member and for moving the bed away from the type respectively.

13. The combination in a printing machine of type; a bed movable toward and from the type; a spring connected to propel the bed toward the type; a member for holding the bed away from the type against the action of the spring; and two levers adjacent each other connected to respectively actuate the holding member and to move the bed away from the type.

14. The combination in a printing machine of means for supporting type; a swinging bed movable toward and from said type; a crank connected to said bed; a spring operative on the bed to forcibly propel it toward the type; and a member connected to said crank for resetting the bed in a position removed from the type after the spring has moved it toward the same.

15. The combination in a printing machine of means for supporting type; a swinging bed movable toward and from said type; a crank connected to said bed; a spring operative on the bed to forcibly propel it toward the type; and means connected to said crank for resetting the bed 'in a position removed from the type after the spring has moved it toward the same, comprising a slotted link connected to said crank and a lever having a pin operative in said slot 16. The combination in a printing machine'of a supporting structure including a platform; a type housing; a bed hinged to said platform and movable toward and from the type housing; a spring connected to the bed so as to be placed in tension by movementof the bed away from the type; a member mounted on the platform for holding the bed away from the type with the spring under tension: and a hand operated element formoving said member to release the bed at will;

17. The combination in a printing machine of type supporting means; a swinging bed movable toward and trom said means; and having a pivot spindle; a spring adjustably connected to said spindle and placed under tension when the bed is moved away from the supporting means; and a device for holding said bed at will in a position removed from the type supporting means with the spring under tension.

18. The combination in a printing machine of type supporting meai a swinging bed movable toward and "from said means and having a pivot spindle: a spring adjustably connected to said spindle and placed under tension when the bed is moved away from the supporting means: a device tor holding said bed at will in a position removed -from the type supporting means with the spring under tension: and a hand operated crank for holding the bed away from the type holding means after the spring has operated.

19. The combination in a printing machine of a substantially horizontal platform having an opening therein; means for holding type above said opening; a swinging bed; a spring for moving said bed to present a label to the type; and a device for automatically moving the bed away from the type after the spring has caused it to present a label thereto be permit said label to fall through said opening under the action of gravity.

20. The combination in a printing machine of a substantially horizontal platform having an opening therein; means for supporting type above said opening; a swinging bed; a spring for moving said bed to present a label to the type; and a device tor automatically moving the bed away from the type after the spring has caused it to present a label thereto, to permit said label to tal] through said opening under the action of gravity; with a delivery chute for receiving the label from the opening The combination in a printing niachine of means tor supporting type with their printing faces substantially vertical: a pivotally mounted bed; a spring for torch bly swinging said bed toward the type to present a label thereto; and a spring actuated element tor moving the bed, a short distance away from the type to release the label after its presentation thereto.

PAUL DIEIZ. 

